Trapped
by angel.of.the.arctic
Summary: Something bad happens to Clint and Natasha is there wondering why certain things never happened to her. All of the avengers! I am really bad with summaries by the way. Sorry :
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

It had been three days since Clint had come back from Panama from a termination mission. The mission must have been tough for him because, for the first time in a week, Natasha woke to Clint's groans as he thrashed in the sheets on the narrow bed.

'Clint…Clint…wake up…please' she said, quickly ducking as Clint jerked back into consciousness, and he swung a fist towards her. She could still see that he was terrified and not yet fully aware that he was conscious.

'Clint' she said again, slowly twining her arms around his neck 'Clint, you're okay, its just me. Relax.'

Natasha could see that there was a fine sheen of sweat on Clint's forehead. Gently laying a hand on his forehead, Natasha could feel the fever and heat that was emanating off of Clint's body.

He groaned lightly and tossed under her touch. Clint drifted off into an uneasy sleep after that. At about 5 am Natasha slowly got up and made a pot of hot, pitch-black coffee. She turned around hearing the rustle at the door that was Clint. He came in, dark circles under his eyes, still slightly yawning.

'Well' she said 'We should probably get going to SHIELD HQ.' Whenever your ready.'

Clint said 'I'm not feeling great Tasha, I think I'm just gonna stay home.'

'Are you sure?' Tasha came over and laid a careful hand on his forehead, 'Yeah you feel really warm. I'll call Fury and-'

She didn't even finish her sentence before Clint abruptly left the table. Seconds later she heard sounds of violent retching behind the bathroom door. Tapping on the door she asked

'Clint are you sure you're umm….okay?'

Stepping back as Clint opened the door, she tried to hide her emotions and worries. But with Barton it rarely ever worked.

Clint saw how anxious she was and said 'Tasha, I'm fine, its probably just a stomach bug or something.'

As he headed toward the bedroom, Natasha hit the speed dial for Nick Fury.

As he picked up with his expectedly sarcastic 'Agent Romanoff?' Natasha heard the bathroom door close again.

'Um Fury, its Clint; there's something wrong with him'

'What?'

'He's vomiting a lot and he has a fever.' Natasha was sure she heard Fury sigh and muffle something that sounded suspiciously like damn.

'Great. Bring him in then. A Quinjet should be landing on the roof in 20 minutes.'


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or tech. *sniff* sniff***

Chapter 2:

(SHIELD Helicarrier: Medical Wing)

After getting Clint to the Helicarrier via Quinjet, Natasha started to follow the medical team that had met them on the tarmac when Fury motioned for him to follow her.

'So what happened?' Fury demanded once inside the private meeting room. Captain Steve Rogers was also there. He looked up questioningly when the two of them entered but said nothing.

'I-I-I don't know' Natasha sobbed out. 'He was perfectly fine when he came home, bruised, but well, the usual. Then today he just..just..'

Fury nodded and was about to ask something else when there was a polite knock on the door.

Yanking it open, Fury glared at the doctor standing there. 'Well?' he barked.

'Agent Barton is in critical-' the doctor hadn't even finished his sentence before Natasha was sprinting through the corridors towards the Med Bay. She could dimly hear Steve yelling her name in the background, but mainly focused on getting to Clint.

The nurse on duty at the desk didn't even hesitate when she saw the wild-eyed Natasha standing there

'he's in room 12' she said.

Natasha nodded her thanks and settled for a powerful stride that got her down the corridor to room 12.

About to go in she saw a sign on the door that made her heart stop: Quarantine.

She didn't even realize Fury, Steve and the doctor were behind her until she turned around.

'He caught Yellow Fever' Fury said simply 'That's why he's in quarantine.'

The doctor hastily interjected with 'But you, Director Fury and Captain Rogers all have clearance to go in there. As long as you get vaccination, it will only take a minute and then you can go in.'

Fury carefully put an arm around Tasha and steered her across the hall. Once inside the small examining room, Natasha didn't even sit down. She rolled up her sleeve and looked away as the doctor injected whatever SHIELD developed vaccine that was needed.

When she tuned back to Fury all she said was,

'Why didn't Clint have the vaccine?'

'He….he…he didn't come in for his normal monthly physical, he was overdue for one.'

'You could have made him come' snarled Natasha.

'Romanoff, it wasn't Fury's fault' Rogers interjected calmly.

Natasha didn't reply to that. She simply strode through the door and into Clint's room. Fury and Rogers looked at each other and shrugged helplessly, then followed Natasha.

**These chapters are all really short, so I apologize. But they should get longer as I go on! Thank you to everybody who is following and favoriting this story**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or tech. Unfortunately**

Natasha stopped short in the doorway of Clint's room. He lay still and barely conscious in the hospital bed. To her Clint was always the strong one in their relationship, he was the one who would hold her when she was hurt, even if he was hurting worse.

But this…this…..this was new to her. She walked in quietly and put one of her hands over Clint's, the one that didn't have an IV needle in it.

In the doorway, Fury quietly asked the doctor 'what's his status?'

The doctor sighed, hesitated and said 'he's getting worse by the hour.' Glancing down at a thin report in his hands,

'Agent Barton's fever has risen from 100.5 to 102.3 in less than two hours.'

'What does this mean?' asked Rogers, looking at where Natasha stood, resting one hand on Barton's forehead.

'We have him on several different treatments and he is starting to show slight reactions to them. But nothing too firm yet.'

(24 hours later)

Natasha barely glanced up from the papers she was holding on her lap when she heard Steve say

'Natasha, its not your fault.'

'What do you want?' she responded dully, 'I should've known…..I should've stopped this before it happened, I-'

'Romanoff, there was nothing you could've done! Yellow fever doesn't show any signs for three days at least. You couldn't have known. Barton's lucky you got him here soon enough.'

Looking at Clint lying there in the bed still and suffering from fever, Natasha found it hard to believe that he was actually lucky.

'The symptoms should go away after about 3-4 days.' Steve said 'Then-

Natasha looked up 'Then what?'

Steve hesitated, 'Then, then the subject either lives or, or….dies.'

**Sorry for this chapter being so short, it was all I could manage! I will have more up next week!**


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